Green machine: Carroll dominates Heights in showdown of ranked teams
No translation of the Heights football players’ body language was necessary early in the second quarter Friday night. They stood stock still in the middle of the Carroll field, hands on hips, looking off into the distance.
They were stunned.
It was a marquee matchup of Carroll, Class 5A’s top-ranked team, and No. 2 Heights. But Carroll senior Mark Quaney had just recovered an onside kick following the Eagles’ third touchdown in less than eight minutes.
The final score was a head-shaking 70-15 as Carroll improved to 4-0.
“I expected us to come out and make a statement,” Carroll junior offensive lineman Noah Johnson said. “I don’t know if I expected this big of a blowout.”
In the span of 13 minutes, Carroll scored 35 points.
“I’m not sure anyone saw that coming,” said Carroll running back Denzel Goolsby, who had three rushing touchdowns and two receiving. “It’s a good surprise.”
Carroll coach Alan Schuckman told his players in their postgame huddle that they had opened a lot of eyes.
“We got on them early,” Schuckman said. “I think they underestimated us a little bit. I think we surprised them.”
It wasn’t a surprise that Carroll’s defense dominated, even as it held Heights’ offensive starters to seven rushing yards on 28 carries. Heights’ two touchdowns were by backup running back Rodney Murphy, who scored on runs of 45 and 3 yards.
Carroll smothered the Heights running backs, whether they ran up the middle or tried to get around end with their speed. Heights’ longest run by its top three backs went for 10 yards, by Trenton Autry in the third quarter.
“There were some talking that Heights might have the best defense in the state,” said Quaney, a defensive back. “We proved the point that we might have that name for ourselves.”
Quaney ended Heights’ lone extended drive when, on the Falcons’ sixth play, he intercepted a Garrett Haskins’ pass in the end zone.
“We felt like their defensive line made a ton of plays,” Heights coach Terry Harrison said. “I felt like we couldn’t sustain blocks. It felt like we were stepping in the right places, getting the right assignment, but they were getting off blocks better than we were blocking them.”
Heights’ defensive line is strong in its own right, and it held early.
Carroll’s first drive was three plays for minus-10 yards. The snap on the ensuing punt went out of the back of the end zone, giving Heights the 2-0 lead with 11:12 to go in the first period.
Heights punted after three plays, and Carroll took over at the Falcons’ 38. But Heights held, forcing Carroll to turn it over on downs four plays later.
Carroll led 7-0 after Keaten Mans scored on a 20-yard pass from quarterback Colton Howell. But on Carroll’s next drive, which started at the Falcon 37, Heights’ Creighton Sanders intercepted Howell.
Three plays later, Heights fumbled. Three plays after that, Carroll scored to start a 56-0 run.
“Our defense played really well early, but we put them in such bad spots offensively,” Harrison said. “You can’t keep that up against good teams. We put no pressure on them with our offense.”
The Carroll offensive line was hyped to face Heights’ defensive line.
“We knew that this would be the best d-line we would play in a game this year,” Johnson said. “We also knew we were going up against probably the best d-line in the state every day in practice. So we knew we were prepared.”
After the shaky start, the Carroll linemen opened gaping holes for Goolsby and Howell.
Howell had 95 rushing yards and scored on runs of 25 and 7 yards. He also threw for 152 yards and had touchdown passes of 20, 32 and 7 yards.
Goolsby scored on receptions of 342 and 7 yards, while also rushing for three touchdowns of nine, 27 and 55 yards.
“Honestly, we just started out a little slow and got into the game plan, and things starting going good for us,” Howell said.
Keeping in form with how the offensive line credited the skill players and the defensive backs credited the defensive line, Goolsby gave the credit to the Eagles’ defense.
“That’s the blessing of going up against our defense every day in practice,” he said. “Being able to see that look, they get used to a physical defense. Coming out against Heights, they were ready for it. They were prepared.”
Heights | 2 | 0 | 7 | 6 | — | 15 |
Carroll | 14 | 28 | 21 | 7 | — | 70 |
H — Safety, punt snapped out of end zone
C — Mans 20 pass from Howell (White kick)
C — Howell 25 run (White kick)
C — Howell 7 run (White kick)
C — Goolsby 32 pass from Howell (White kick)
C — Goolsby 9 run (White kick)
C — Goolsby 7 pass from Howell (White kick)
C — Goolsby 27 run (White kick)
C — Goolsby 55 run (White kick)
C — Weber 5 run (White kick)
H — Murphy 45 run (Rodriguez kick)
C — Theise 3 run (Lopez kick)
H — Murphy 3 run (kick failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Heights, Murphy 5-66, Autry 9-18, King 6-12, Garner 1-1, McCray 8-(-9), Brown 2-(-12), Haskins 5-(-14). Carroll, Goolsby 12-131, Howell 12-95, Allen 6-45, Weber 5-17, Theis 1-3, Seyfert 1-2, Gottschalk 1-1.
Passing — Heights, Haskins 5-9-86-1. Carroll, Howell 12-19-152-1, Allen 0-1-0-0.
Receiving — Heights, Johnson 2-41, King 1-37, Harris 1-13, McCray 1-(-5). Carroll, Goolsby 3-44, Bailey 1-43, Mans 3-31, Newell 3-17, Brittain 2-17.
This story was originally published September 27, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Green machine: Carroll dominates Heights in showdown of ranked teams."